Club Quaid played his club
hurling with Feohanagh and Murroe-Boher. He enjoyed some underage success with the side but failed to win a senior
county championship.
Inter-county Minor and under-21 Quaid first played for Limerick at minor level. He made his first appearance for the team on 6 July 1988 in a 4-10 to 2-06
Munster semi-final defeat by
Tipperary. On 2 July 1989, Quaid lined out in goal for Limerick's 2-13 to 2-12 defeat by
Clare in the
Munster final. His third and final season on the minor team ended with a
Munster semi-final defeat by Clare. Quaid subsequently joined the Limerick under-21 hurling team. On 7 August 1991, he was in goal for Limerick's 0-17 to 1-07 defeat by Cork in the
Munster final. On 23 July 1993, Quaid made his last appearance for the under-21 team when he lined out in goal in a 1-18 to 3-09
Munster final defeat by Cork.
Senior Quaid joined the Limerick senior team during the
1991-92 National League as understudy to regular goalkeeper
Tommy Quaid. On 10 May 1992, he won a
National Hurling League medal as a non-playing substitute after a 0-14 to 0-13 defeat of Tipperary in the final. On 17 October 1993, Quaid made his debut with the Limerick senior team in a 1-13 to 0-13
National Hurling League defeat of Cork. Later that season he made his first appearance in the
Munster Championship, before winning his first provincial winners' medal after a 0-25 to 2-10 defeat of Clare in the final. On 3 September 1994, Quaid lined out in goal for Limerick's
All-Ireland final meeting with
Offaly. With five minutes of normal time remaining, Limerick were leading by 2-13 to 1-11 and looked to be heading to their first title in 21 years when Offaly were awarded a free 20 metres from the goal. Quaid later admitted that he was to blame for the resultant goal in that he didn't organise his defence well enough to stop a low-struck free from
Johnny Dooley. He was erroneously blamed for Offaly's second goal after what was described as a quick and errant puck-out leading to
Pat O'Connor putting Offaly a point ahead. Quaid later described the puck-out: "I didn’t rush back to the goals. I went back and picked up the ball, walked behind the goals like I normally would.
Hegarty was out in the middle of the field on his own. I dropped the ball into his hand 70 yards out from goal. He caught the ball and in contact the ball squirted out of his hands." Because the television coverage was still showing a replay of the first goal, very few people got to see the build up to the second and when live transmission was resumed, the sliotar was still dropping towards Pat O'Connor leading people to assume that Quaid rushed his puck-out. Limerick went on to lose the game by 3-16 to 2-13. Quaid ended the season by winning the
All Star goalkeeping award. On 14 July 1996, Quaid won a second Munster Championship medal in three seasons after a 4-07 to 0-16 defeat of Tipperary in the final. He later lined out in his second
All-Ireland final when Limerick faced
Wexford on 1 September 1996. Quaid was praised for making a series of spectacular saves during the game, however, Limerick were eventually defeated by 1-13 to 0-14. Quaid ended the season with a second All Star Award. On 27 April 1997, Quaid suffered a serious injury in a National League game against
Laois when the sliotar struck Quaid in the groin at high speed following a penalty attempt by
David Cuddy. His right testicle exploded on impact while half of the other testicle had to be surgically removed. In spite of the injury, Quaid won a second National League medal on 5 October 1997 after a 1-12 to 1-09 defeat of
Galway in the final. Quaid announced his retirement from inter-county hurling on 22 October 2000. At 28, he cited the growing levels of commitment required as the principal reason for his retirement. After a year out of the game, Quaid reversed his decision and returned to the panel in January 2002. He made seven appearances throughout the league and championship that season before retiring for the second time at the end of the season.
Inter-provincial Like both his cousin
Tommy Quaid and his Uncle
Jack Quaid before him, Joe was also a member of the Munster Team in 1995 and 1997. In 1995 he won a
Railway Cup medal as Munster's goalkeeper. Munster defeated Leinster 2-25 to 5-12 in the semi-final of that year, before going on to beat Ulster 0-13 to 1-09 in the final. ==Management and coaching career==